DC Gothic – Red-X 2
Pink-X 2
Shadow Squad HQ – Jump City
"Hey boss someone wants to talk to you" Mammoth told me as I entered our communications room "There on the big screen".
I found this interesting because few people ever contacted the team so directly, this was because so few knew how to call us. Most of the time people wanting to hire us did so indirectly, like through a contact who knew a member of the Shadow Squad.
Since I wanted to find out more about this unknown person, I slipped on my skull mask and took the call off hold so that I could both see and hear the caller.
Upon seeing the guy I took an instant disliking towards him. He had blond hair and he wore a strange looking piece of tech over his right eye. I almost had his name, but I couldn't quite recall who he was or why I wanted to beat him up.
"Who are you?" I asked.
In the back of my head there was a memory of this guy looking somewhat different, but with the same odd eyepiece. It was a dangerous device I recalled that much at least.
"I am Count Vertigo" the man told me "I wish to speak to you, Red-X"
Now I had the name I could look him up on the computer, but that would have to wait until after the call ended as I needed to focus on what the count was saying.
"What do you want with me?" I inquired.
My assumption was that he would hire me for a job.
"I represent a certain individual, you may have heard of him" said the count "Ra's Al Ghul".
Until now I had been the under the impression that Ra's was dead, but given the kind of universe I was in then I wouldn't be surprised if even Slade came back as a kind of zombie one of these days.
"Yes I've heard of the Demon's Head" I said warily "What does Ra's Al Ghul want with me?"
Given that his daughter had murdered me less than a year ago, I was naturally worried at this point.
"He is very interested in you" the villain told me "And he wishes to met".
To me this seemed like an odd way of setting up a trap. If the Demon's Head knew where I was and he wanted me dead, then he could just send an army of ninjas after me.
"What's in it for me?" I then asked.
Since I was a crook for hire I didn't do things for nothing, and it would seem odd if I didn't inquire about payment.
"I assure you that Ra's al Ghul simply wishes to speak with you" I was assured "He will of course compensate you for your time".
Now I was thinking that this was not a trap. Somehow I just knew it. Which meant it might be opportunity for me to get some payback, or this could even be a chance to make peace with the Assassins so they would leave me and my team alone.
They had no reason the hunt me now that I was no longer working for Slade, and if I made it worth his while the Demon's Head might agree to some sort of peace treaty.
If he didn't then he might be the one in trouble, as I was the real immortal, and my team had a lot of firepower. If the League of Shadows started a war with the Shadow Squad then things would get messy. Not that I wanted to start a fight as Ra's had centuries of experience, and an army to call upon. Even if Slade had greatly weakened the League of Shadows they could still destroy my team.
"Where do I find him?" was my next question.
It was a big world out there, and if I'd ever had a clue how to find Talia she would most likely be dead by now.
"Do not worry I'll give him your answer" the Count was now saying "But be warned while The League of Shadows wishes to help you, in turn you must help them".
Judging by his words I figured that this man did not consider himself to be full part of the assassin organization.
"So this is a job?" I questioned.
I was a little confused now as now because if Ra's simply wanted a word then he could have called me.
"More of an information exchange" the count told me "And I do have an incentive for you".
That had my interest.
"And what would that be?" I asked.
I hoped it was money. I liked money.
"Xenothium," Count Vertigo told me "The League knows that it powers your suit and the Demon's Head as supply of the material waiting for you".
It wasn't surprising that Ra's knew about the exotic fuel source for my suit as many people did.
"As to the matter at hand" the count said "Ra's al Ghul wishes to meet you in Tibet at an ancient temple in the mountains. At the bottom of these mountains, there is a rare blue flower. Pick one of these flowers, when you arrive, then take it to the Demon's Head so he will know who you are".
That was when I realised that this was also some kind of test.
"I understand" I said before closing the channel.
He hadn't told me where the mountain was, but I guessed finding the temple was part of the test.
Next I used our internal communications to summon everyone to a meeting. We still had Pink-X to find, and they all needed to know what had just happened.
(Line Break)
Shadow Squad HQ – Jump City
"I thought we were going to deal with Pink-X" Jinx said "We can't get distracted by those assassin guys".
Sadly it wasn't that simple.
"If I piss off the Demon's Head by not meeting with him then he could have us all killed" I pointed out "The League of Shadows is full of assassins after all".
This I knew first hand as I'd battled them in the past, and while I knew I could take down even two or three assassins I had no chance if dozens of the fuckers came after me. Plus there could be hundreds of the well trained killers waiting to take me on, even with my team I might not win a war against the Demon's Head.
"There's no need to worry I heard Slade killed most of them" Jinx then said "I beat he just wants to hire us for a job because he hasn't got any minions to do his dirty work for him".
Her saying that got me thinking.
"The count mentioned an information exchange but maybe they want to recruit me" I reasoned "But why now?".
Gizmo coughed before speaking.
"It might be because I uploaded the video to the net" he confessed.
He was talking about the video that showed me easily defeating a number of super villains, and also me taking on Robin during that whole Whacky Races thing. That could have made an impression.
"They're after Ravager too. They want to recruit her" Blackfire told me "Well that's what she told me last night".
I had to spend a moment processing that.
"Ravager went with you on Girl's night, again?" I asked.
That made no sense, but the women I knew rarely did.
"Yeah it was me, Jinx, Starfire and Ravager" the alien princess told me
Now I was getting really confused.
"Do you not know that she wants to kill your sister?" I wondered.
While Blackfire was driven to humiliate her sibling in order to get payback for reasons she found valid, she didn't actually want Starfire dead. At least not anymore, so it was odd that the two sisters were hanging out with some who did want to kill Star.
"We have a truce on Girl's Night" Jinx informed me
I decided that I would never understand women, and so I moved on.
"Well then I guess I'll need to talk to Rose sometime soon" I decided.
If the League of Shadows was making her life difficult, then I might have an ally should it come to a fight.
"But first we need to deal with Pinky" I reminded everyone "and we're doing it tonight".
This was wise as I didn't want to have to deal with too many issues at the same time.
(Line Break)
S.T.A.R Labs – Jump City
I stood patiently inside the vault, and for once I wasn't trying to steal any of the lovely, lovely xenothuilm. I was actually guarding it. For me this was perverted, because I was a crook. So trying to stop another criminal from committing a crime just felt so very wrong.
As to why I was here I needed find out if Pink-X was my kid from the future, or just some crazy fan girl. I didn't know which would be worse, but either way I had to deal with her because if nothing else she was copying me, and there could be only one X in Jump City.
So my team and I were waiting for Pinky to break into the place so we could ambush her. It might not work given that the other X could walk through walls, but if this crook was my daughter then she should stick around for a family reunion of sorts.
If nothing else I hoped my team could keep Pinky busy long enough for me to take her belt off her, which would render her suit useless. Then when she was lacking her high tech toys I could find out who she was.
"Check in" I ordered everyone.
All my team, Jinx, Blackfire, Gizmo, Mammoth and Kyd Wyykd were here. The Shadow Squad had some new potential members now, such as See-More, Billy Numerous and Angel, but none of them were ready to commit just yet as they had been baldy used by Brother Blood. Still I figured that they'd soon come around
Which was a good thing as if the League of Shadows was going to cause us trouble then I was going to need some extra firepower.
"Hold on where's Blackfire?" I asked when the role call came to an end "Can anyone get in contact with her".
She hadn't checked in. She was suppose to be keeping an eye on S.T.A.R. Labs from up high, but it seemed that she had abandoned her post.
"Where could she have gone?" I asked myself.
(Line Break)
Nightclub – Jump City
The music was loud in the club. Many people were dancing and drinking. Blackfire was in the middle of it and she was loving every moment.
"This music is way better then the crap they play on Andres Prime" Blackfire said to some of the other dancers "But its not as good as the stuff I danced to on Mistoff Six!".
Of course none of the other people in the club had any clue what Blackfire was talking about, but since his was Jump City they didn't really care either, so the alien princess just kept on dancing.
"Whoa, check out that babe" a young man wearing a black leather jacket said to his two friends. "Lets see if we can get lucky tonight".
The three guys approached Blackfire who was still in getting funky with the music. She might as well have been on another planet for all the attention she was giving her surroundings
"Hey babe, want to go to a place that's REALLY great?" The man wearing the black leather jacket inquired.
Blackfire looked up and noticed the trio of guys.
"Really?" she asked the man wearing the leather jacket."You know of a place even better then here?"
The alien princess knew exactly what the lads wanted from her, and she intended to make sure that they didn't get it.
"Yup" the leader replied "Compared to this place, we're were going will blow your mind".
Blackfire smiled in order to hide the expression her face wanted to make. Which would have been a lot more scary.
"Yeah!" one of the other guys agreed.
Of course the criminal from another world knew that there was no other place, but she planned to play along.
"Just follow us" the man wearing the leather jacket instructed.
Blackfire gave the young men her most innocent looking smile.
"Fine boys. Show me the way" she replied.
(Line Break)
Once they were in the ally the man wearing the leather jacket closed the door to the club. The sound of the music could still be heard, although it was somewhat muted now.
"So, where is this great place you are talking about?" Blackfire asked while looking at the boys "Come on show me what you do for fun".
She looked relaxed, but she was in fact more than ready for a fight.
"Its right here babe." The man wearing the leather jacket said with a smirk "And you're the fun"
The leader of the thugs then took out a knife. It was for intimation only, but Blackfire wasn't at all worried.
"Sorry boys, but I'm already called for" the princess informed.
Her boyfriend was a lot more scary than these losers.
"Playing hard to get huh?" the guy with the knife then said "Well I guess I'll just have to get rough".
The other two men laughed.
"We're going to have a little fun tonight" one of the other two guys told Blackfire between laughs "Whether you like it or not!"
The guy in the leather jacket rushed at Blackfire, but the alien easily avoided the attack and slammed the leader of the thugs into a wall.
"You'll pay for that!" one of the leader's lackey's promised.
Her response was to blast one of boys with a none-lethal beam of energy from her eyes. Then she used a karate kick to send the other guy into a nearby trash can. Finally she used another none-lethal energy blast on the guy wearing a leather jacket. She would have killed him, but she thought the coat was cool, she intended to steal it before doing any real harm.
"You bitch...you'll..." one of the young men swore.
Insulting the alien princess only made her madder.
"You fellas never learn do you?" Blackfire said as her eyes began to glow.
"Guess I'll have to teach you boys a lesson."
The boys shivered in fear as the alien moved nearer to them, seconds later the screaming started.
(Line Break)
Roof Tops – Jump City
Pink-X and I both appeared on top of a building on the outskirts of Jump-City, and I expected Pinky to teleport again but it appeared that she had finally run out of juice.
"Need this?" I said while holding up a tube full of the xenoithum that the thief had tried to take from S.T.A.R labs.
It felt so weird to be doing this as normally I was the one trying to get away with the stolen goods.
"Take off the mask" I then ordered.
To enforce this command I took out my gun and pointed it at her. Pink-X slowly took of her mask.
"Oh damn its a fan girl" I growled.
I knew her face. She was Kitten, the daughter of Killer Moth, who I had met briefly during that whole Whacky Races thing.
"What?" asked Kitten.
Under my mask I rolled my eyes.
"Forget about that" I told her "And tell me why you are dressing up and stealing high tech stuff. That's my gig!".
She'd better have a good explanation or I was going to hand her over to the cops or maybe the Titans.
"I wanted to get my Dad's attention" Kitten explained "So I made a whole bunch of costumes. I had this dea that I'd do a bunch of crimes while disguised as the daughter of enemies of the Titans, until he finally came out of the basement".
So she was someone with Daddy issues after I just wasn't the father. Also her scheme was stupid.
"Then I met you and I thought you were cool, and I had sooo much fun as Pink-X" Kitten admitted.
It seemed as if I had made an impression during our short meeting, and given how much of a thrill being Red-X gave me I kind of understood where she was coming from.
"So I guess you want me to stop" Kitten said with a frown
Well I didn't want her to be Pink-X, but that didn't mean she couldn't be a crook like me.
"I'd be a hypocrite if I did" I told her "But if you want to be a thief then you should make your own identity. Pop by my place sometime, we're always looking for more members".
Mostly I wanted to know how she'd gotten an X-suit and a device that allowed her to walk through walls, and while there were other ways to get that information I figured that it would be a lot easier if she told me simply because she wanted to impress me. However I also had the feeling that more was going on here than it might seem. I didn't think that Kitten could have pulled off all those crimes. But again I figured it would be better if she told me on her own terms.
"Thanks X" she said "You're not like other villains".
That was true.
"I'm something of an oddity" I told the blonde.
In order to prove this I took out a test tube of the awesome red stuff and I passed it to her.
"This will get you home" I said.
Seconds later I used my own teleporter and I made my way back to my group's base.
(Line Break)
Shadow Squad Headquarters – Jump City
"So Pink-X was Kitten the whole time" Terra said after I had filled her in "I'd never have guessed".
Me neither.
"She told me it was all about getting her father's attention" I then informed the Titan "But that doesn't explain where she got the tech from".
There was more going on her than some girl with Daddy issues. Kitten had someone helping her out. I figured that it was Ravager because not only did Rose have the money and the resources to create a Pink-X suit she also knew a lot of the methods super villains used to commit their crimes.
This theory made sense as I knew that Kitten had worked for Ravager in the past. Not that long ago they'd test a special kind of lipstick on me that had really messed with my head.
What I didn't know was why young Miss Wilson had started this project. For someone who wanted revenge her actions didn't make much sense, she was going after the Titan, and her other actions seemed rather random. Either she was crazy or she had a very complex master plan.
"We figured she got from you" Terra said "I mean Robin thinks that your recruiting so you can over the city".
That made some sense, or at it least it would have if the Boy Wonder hadn't handed over this case to me. Perhaps he had been testing me in some way.
"Ravager is up to something" I said with certainty "and it has to be connected with what Pink-X was stealing".
My thinking now was that I would have to make a trip to the old steel mill and confront Rose. She and I were neither friends or enemies so she might listen to me and let me talk her out whatever madness she had planned.
"Didn't Gizmo say it was just random junk" Terra reminded "He's pretty good with tech so he should know what the stuff might be used for".
My thinking earlier had been that the robberies had been more about getting Pink-X noticed, or maybe they'd meant to be a distraction. Now I wasn't so sure what was going on.
"Well at least you know who Pink is now" I said to the geomancer "You can go give a report to Bird Boy".
As for me I was going to see Ravager, as now that the League of Shadows was getting involved things were becoming more dangerous. I could no longer allow her to play her silly games.
"I'll see you later" I told the Titan as I picked up my masks and my gloves "I have to see a woman about some assassins".
Now was the time to visit the Steel Mill, so that I could get some answers for my growing pile of questions.